Financing Your Business

General Information

Anyone interested in starting a business will need money. There are different ways to get funding and they are grouped into four catagories by the United States Small Business Administration.

Personal Savings
The primary source of capital for most new businesses comes from savings and other forms of personal resources. While credit cards are often used to finance business needs, there may be better options available, even for very small loans.

Friends and Relatives
Many entrepreneurs look to private sources such as friends and family when starting out in a business venture. Often, money is loaned interest free or at a low interest rate, which can be beneficial when getting started.

Banks and Credit Unions
The most common source of funding, banks and credit unions, will provide a loan if you can show that your business proposal is sound.

Venture Capital Firms
These firms help expanding companies grow in exchange for equity or partial ownership.

Source: "How to Raise Money for a Small Business Fact Sheet" by the U.S. SBA.

Websites

The following list of websites has been recommended by the Business and Public Managment Librarian as a starting point for financing a small business.

Business.gov Financing
business.gov/finance/financing
A section from Business.gov, this website will show the truth about getting free money from the goverment and provide a way to search for business loans.

Entrepreneur.com: Financing
www.entrepreneur.com/money/finance/index.html
Part of Entrepreneur Magazine's website that provides information about business start-up financing. Some of the topics covered include angel investors, bank and micro-loans, venture capital, and self financing.

Small Business Planner: Finance Start-Up
www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/start/financestartup/index.html
This is part of the U.S. Small Business Administration's Small Business Planner found under the "Start Your Business" section of the planner. The information on this site includes start-up costs, SBA business loan programs available, and more.

Books

The St. Charles City-County Library District has books in the collection devoted to financing a small business. When searching the catalog for financing resources you may want to do a subject or title keyword search using one or more of the following terms:

Clicking on the link above will take you into the library's catalog. Once in there, you may browse the subject listings or begin a new search. Clicking on this link will take you out of the Business and Public Management section of our website.